Main menu

LU Philharmonic: The Music of Tchaikovsky

The Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra presents

The Music of Tchaikovsky

December 7 & 8 at Zoellner Arts Center

Featuring an all Tchaikovsky program

The Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Eugene Albulescu present The Music of Tchaikosky concert on Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8 at 8 pm in Baker Hall featuring an all Tchaikovsky program including the waltz from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty, TheNutcracker Suite and Symphony No. 6 in B minor, op. 74, Pathetique. “When the schedule had to be rearranged due to the power outage caused by the storm, we saw a chance for our student orchestra members to present a program featuring the music of one of the greatest composers of all time. They have been practicing a lot for the concert and are excited about the repertoire,” says Albulescu. Tickets are $18.

The Lehigh Philharmonic concert Old World England & Russia which was cancelled on November 2 and 3 due to Hurricane Sandy will not be rescheduled.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was born in Russia and a composer during the Romantic era. He enjoyed success during his lifetime with a wide-ranging output of symphonies, operas, ballets, and instrumental and chamber music. He wrote some of the most popular music in classical repertoire including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, the 1812 Overture and The Nutcracker. He died suddenly from cholera at the age of 53.

Lehigh University Philharmonic Music Director Eugene Albulescu is an award-winning performer and conductor who has led the Lehigh University Philharmonic for the past five years. Among his conducting accomplishments are a stint as director of the French Chamber Orchestra while on tour during 2008-2010, as well as several performances and recordings with top orchestras including the Romanian National Philharmonic, New York Chamber Orchestra, as well as the New Zealand Symphony, which released his recent recording of Jenny McLeod’s “Rock Concerto” on the Naxos label. As a pianist, Albulescu is Steinway Artist who combines a blazing technique with the artistic integrity and originality to express musical emotions at their most personal level. He started his piano studies in Romania at the age of six, at the Enescu Music School in Bucharest. His family moved to New Zealand in 1984 to escape Romania’s Communist regime.

Albulescu completed his musical studies at Indiana University where, at 19, he was the youngest person ever to reach the level of assistant instructor. He emerged on the international scene in 1994 when his debut CD was awarded the International Grand Prix Liszt, adding Albulescu’s name to the list of winners which include Brendel, Arrau, Horowitz and Bolet. Since then Albulescu has performed worldwide, including concerts at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, Bargemusic in New York, the Purely Piano series in Auckland, New Zealand, the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as the International Liszt Festival of the American Liszt Society. Having been invited to the White House to perform for the Millennium celebrations, he also performed at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Celebrated critic Harold C. Schonberg hailed Albulescu’s “power and infallible fingers of steel,” declaring that “nothing anywhere has any terrors for him.”

The highly acclaimed Lehigh University Philharmonic is a group of talented musicians, most of whom are undergraduate students majoring in disciplines outside of music. They regularly perform at their home in Zoellner Arts Center on the campus of Lehigh University, and have performed at various international venues in Europe, Asia and South America and Africa. Last year, the orchestra celebrated the Mahler centennial year with a memorable rendition of his first symphony, a performance that was cited by the Morning Call as “one of the ten best performances of the year” in the Lehigh Valley. The orchestra also champions student achievement, presenting each February a marathon of concerto movements where all orchestra members have a chance to play a concerto movement.

The orchestra’s programming focus is the historically important main orchestral repertoire, ranging from Bach to Barber and everything in between. New multi-media presentations of such works as Tchaikovksy’s Nutcracker Suite have earned the orchestra a reputation for originality. Pioneering new music is also a focus. In the past few years the orchestra presented several North American as well as world premieres and a yearly concert featuring works of Lehigh University student composers.